Yelp.com
Reviews and Complaints

Tracking number for returned Package

936128970021959731695, returned 0713/2023

Delivered to sender

Applying Ga 30802

07/18/2033 3:41pm

Item # [protected]

$73.63

Contacted Customer service which was and mission in futility. The customer service on Amazon web site is joke it’s impossible to leave as by kink of response limited wrong question s purposely designed that way !

To discourage customers from getting help and to prevent Amazon liability

Yelp needs to understand that not all small businesses can pay their monthly fees to have their 5 star reviews show up.

This is pure blackmail.

I know of several great reviews that my small company received on yelp because my customers told me about them. But the reviews never show, only bad reviews show. Yelp claims that this is their algorithms. What EVER! No algorithms are used when a customer gives a bad review, it immediately shows up within seconds. But when a good or great review is given, it may take several days or not show up at all.

I cannot believe that yelp has not been sued over this. BLACKMAIL.

We are a small business with a limited marketing budget. We invested monies into ads on Yelp.com a couple years ago. Eventually, we could not afford marketing at different platforms, and we decided to cut our lowest generating sales platform which was Yelp.com. Since then, we have received sales calls from their business advertising teams and they have turned more and more unprofessional.

Today a sales representative called and kept repeating varying versions of-- "I am asking you to act like an adult and respond to my question like a human being: why will you not commit to a campaign with Yelp?"

I admitted that his tone was not going to encourage us to do business with Yelp and that I took the time (between 30-45 minutes) on the last call with another member of his team to explain why we could not commit to a marketing campaign. He kept repeating his 'you need to act like an adult and human being' line, so I excused myself from the conversation, wished him well, and hung up.

There is nothing that gives Yelp.com employees the right to forgo professionalism, especially with potential customers.

Why did we have a lack of interest in re-investing in Yelp.com ads before this customer service issue? Again, we have a limited marketing budget. We re-evaluate the allocation of marketing monies every three to six months. When we stopped advertising with Yelp.com over a year ago, they listed our name at the bottom of all other competitors in our area. Many of these competitors had incomplete pages waiting to be claimed, which means they never paid a dime to Yelp.com yet were listed above ours after we could not afford ads. The message was clear: pay to get listed on the first page, or don't pay and get dropped to the bottom of all paying and nonpaying competitors on page three or four.

We will not be doing business with Yelp.com for questionable business tactics and poor customer service.

I have legitimate clients who took time out of their work day to write reviews for the services they received from me. I take their reviews seriously and appreciate them very much.

After seeing that Yelp wrote for people to IGNORE ALL MY REVIEWS, I had the misfortune of speaking with a completely indifferent woman when I called Yelp. Basically, she said there is nothing I can do about it and it happens all the time with their algorythm. She was very clear that I was annoying her and she ultimately hung up on me.

Also, she told me they do not delete pages so there is no way to remove myself.

The indifference in her attitude was only overshadowed by Yelp's inabiltity to put forth a reliable product, a fair business, and customer service.

Yelp is a platform that claims to help business owners get more customers. They encourage you to download their app and offer you what seems like a great deal - hundreds of dollars in free advertising. However, as I found out the hard way, this is not the case.

When I signed up for Yelp, they asked me to choose a budget for my advertising. I chose a budget that matched what they claimed I would get for free - $300. Nowhere did it say that I would have to pay out of pocket or that I would have to call and cancel. Two months later, I looked at my bank statement and saw a charge for $247 debited from my account. They had my account information from a previously authorized purchase.

So what did I get for my money? Not much, it turns out. My listing was close to the top of the list when someone searched for the services or products I offered, but only if they searched for my business by name. I was shocked at the unexpected charges and couldn't figure out what went wrong. I disputed it with my bank, but the charge was still pending so they couldn't do anything for me. It was a tough time - rent and bills were due at home and at my business.

I called Yelp to try and sort things out, but they wouldn't budge. I got no warning, no email, nothing. Eventually, I figured out what had happened and remembered that I had fallen for the same scam a few years prior. I spend hours advertising, including advertising Yelp, but I rarely get customers through Yelp.

When I cancelled the service, things got even worse. That same day, I got my first bad review from an unknown customer who made claims that were impossible. I tried to dispute it with Yelp, but they wouldn't help me. It seemed like Yelp was biased and only benefited my business when I paid. Bad reviews from uninformed people or revenge reviews were permitted. I was even extorted for free services by a person threatening to give me a bad review, later to find out that person was never a customer.

In conclusion, Yelp is not a platform that I would recommend to other business owners. They make false promises and charge you without warning. Even when you pay, you don't get much in return. And if you don't pay, you risk getting bad reviews from people who may not even be your customers. It's a tough world out there for small business owners, and Yelp is not making it any easier.

My business was getting a lot of calls and emails every day, and it was getting really annoying. We tried to get on the "No Call" list, but it didn't work. So, we decided to talk to one of the reps from Yelp for Business Owners. I told him that we weren't interested, but he kept pestering me until I finally agreed to talk to him on the phone. He gave me some statistics about search results and businesses like mine in the area. I told him again that I wasn't interested in any paid ads, but he told me about Yelp's "Free $300 dollars worth of Yelp Ads." He assured me that the ads were free, so I decided to give it a try.

After a month, the Yelp ads didn't do anything for our business. So, I decided to cancel the ads service before the following month. I didn't want to pay for a service that didn't help us. But, on the first business day of September, my credit card was charged over $500 by Yelp.

I talked to multiple Yelp reps and my credit card company to explain the situation. The Yelp reps said they would send an email to get my payment reversed, and I told them to refer to the recorded calls from August. My credit card company refunded me right away, but Yelp kept charging my account. I was supposed to receive paperwork to reverse the payment, but I never got it. I had to call to get my credit card taken off my Yelp account.

I'm still waiting for everything to be resolved, but for now, I would advise other business owners to stay away from Yelp. If you're getting calls from them, just block and ignore them.

I gotta tell ya, I got an email on 7/24 that said I could get $300.00 in free Yelp Adds (see attached). I was like, "heck yeah, sign me up!" So, I signed up on 7/25 and then I got a call from a woman in Sales (see attached welcome letter). I told her I didn't have a lot of money to spend, but she assured me that I could adjust my budget after my $300.00 was used up. She said I should make it $450/month so I could get the most out of my free $300.00.

Well, on 10/1 I got an email that said my debit card was declined for $373.05. I was like, "what the heck? I wasn't supposed to be charged!" My business is just starting out and I don't have any funds in there yet. So, I went to the Yelp website and closed my Yelp Business account right away.

But then, on 10/4 I got another email that said my card was declined. And then on 10/8 I got an email that they wanted to talk to me about my account. I talked to them on the phone and they said my ad was never cancelled, but they would go ahead and cancel it for me. Then I got another confirmation that it was closed. Ronni said he would go back and review the phone call to see what I was told when I signed up, but I never heard back from him.

Fast forward to today, 1/23, and I got an email that they are sending this to collection. Can you believe it? I ended up calling them back and paying the bill with my credit card.

Here's the thing, folks. Listen carefully to what they say. They will tell you that their free $300.00 will cover everything, but then they'll encourage you to sign up for things they know are beyond the $300.00. And then you'll get stiffed with the bill. Hang up immediately if they call you! Do not fall for the free $300.00 scam.

And here's another thing. As the business owner, you do not have the right to remove your business from their website. They will never remove it or allow you to mark it as closed or remove your contact information. Once you are on Yelp, you are always on Yelp. So, be careful out there, folks. Don't get scammed like I did.

So, I had a bit of a problem with Yelp for Business Owners (biz.yelp.com) and I gotta say, it wasn't a pleasant experience. If you're like me and you have an issue with a Yelp charge, be prepared to wait on hold for a good half hour before you can even talk to someone. And when you finally do get through, the "rep" you talk to is basically there to tell you why you can't be credited back any of your charges. Not cool, Yelp.

Here's what happened: I was talked into running some pay per click ads during the last 10 days of my client's business season. We made it clear that we only wanted to run the ad for 10 days because the business was closing for the season. This was stated in the sales agent's notes and on the voice recording. But what the sales agent didn't tell us was that we were responsible for turning the ads off at the 10 day mark. I personally checked the account after the 10 days and it appeared there were no ads running, but a month later my client was charged $570 for ads that ran while they were closed. Not cool, Yelp.

To make matters worse, we were also told that we would only pay for actual ad clicks. But no one wants to click an ad to rent a boat in the fall, so we didn't get any clicks. But Yelp conveniently charged us the maximum per month anyway, even though we didn't get any clicks. Not cool, Yelp.

So, I called Yelp to try to sort things out. I was able to speak with an agent who told me that their sales people are not responsible for turning off ads, despite what may be interpreted or implied. When I asked to speak to her manager, she said she was the manager. When I asked for her name and ID#, she would only give me her first name. She was more than happy to tell me how she wasn't going to help and that it was our responsibility to pay for it regardless of the error. Not cool, Yelp.

I have multiple clients and know multiple agents, so this is roughly 50 people within direct reach of me that will never use Yelp. I explained this to them with zero result. I called one more time to see if I could get a different rep and answer to no avail. Not cool, Yelp.

Honestly, any company that is so desperate to keep shady ad money without any sort of negotiation or accommodation is on its way down. I assume they know they are doomed to Facebook & Google reviews and are doing a final run for a money grab before they sink. Not cool, Yelp.

So, I had this restaurant that was closed for construction in March of 2022. We had a Yelp page that we always tried to keep updated with good content and reviews, but we never really had the budget for online ads. That's why I was really confused when I got a bill from Yelp for several hundred dollars in July. We were still dealing with construction at that time, so I didn't understand why we were being charged for ads. It turns out that the charges were for another page that we didn't even know existed. This page had no photos, no content, and no reviews. The only contact information on the page was my personal cell phone number. I have no idea how this page was created, but it was obviously not something that we had authorized.

When I contacted my credit card company about the charges, they immediately recognized it as fraud and issued a refund. I thought that would be the end of it, but Yelp has been threatening me with legal action and credit reporting ever since. I've talked to over a dozen people and sent more than 50 emails, but they just don't seem to care. They admit that there are two accounts for our business, but they refuse to refund the charges for the self-directed ads that were placed on the empty page. They say that it's all outlined in their Terms of Use, but it just doesn't make sense to me. They're making money by allowing people to review and scrutinize small businesses, but they don't seem to care when those businesses are wronged.

I know that it's my responsibility to keep my computer secure, but it's still frustrating to be held responsible for something that I didn't even know was happening. What's even more frustrating is that Yelp seems to be more concerned with making money than with doing the right thing. At our restaurant, we always try to do the right thing, even if it costs us money. We would never charge someone for something that they didn't order, for example. It's just good business and the right thing to do. Yelp should be doing the same thing, but they're not. It may not be illegal, but it's definitely wrong.

This app is great for the free features, but the ads are super expensive and don't bring in much profit. Plus, Yelp only displays a few of the customer reviews, even if you have a ton. I went to a business owners conference recently and it was crazy to hear how many people were frustrated with Yelp's reviews and return on investment. Last month, we paid Yelp over $500 and only got a few inquiries and even fewer actual jobs. Most of the time, people are just fishing for prices and contacting multiple companies, which means we have to pay for those inquiries. It's a total rip-off.

The worst part is that Yelp doesn't seem to care about making their customers happy, even though we're paying them so much money. I was overcharged and when I called to complain, I was transferred around and then hung up on by a Yelp employee. I tried submitting a complaint electronically, but I never heard back from anyone in the company. It's like they don't care about their customers at all.

After all of this, I learned that Google is way more important when it comes to establishing your reputation and Facebook is better for online presence. I talked to a bunch of business owners who have tried Yelp, Angie's List, or Home Advisor and they all said the same thing. I cancelled my ads with Yelp and they even took down more of my reviews. It's crazy!

If you're a new company, please take this review seriously. It's so sad to see people trying to build their dreams and getting ripped off by huge companies with terrible customer service. Yelp is nice when you sign up, but they don't play fair. They control everything on the platform, from the calls you get to the reviews they think are real (even though they hang up on customers!). Do your research before you waste a bunch of money. I wish I had attended that conference sooner, I would have saved thousands of dollars.

YELP is a website that never fails to surprise me. Recently, I discovered new razor blades hidden in their bag of candy. Luckily, I always inspect things before consuming them. However, this experience made me realize that many businesses listed on YELP are fake businesses that serve as proxies for other businesses and contain fake reviews. This allows these greedy businesses to gain a larger market share.

Moreover, YELP has an Elite Yelp Squad of reviewers who are only interested in social acceptance and are willing to review anything just to add another notch to their review bedpost. For these elite reviewers, the reward is an invitation to wine and dine at restaurants with other like-minded YELP Obsessive Compulsives on YELP's tab. This reward system reinforces the YELP culture of reviewing anything and everything.

It is common knowledge that YELP does not take responsibility for the reviews it leaves on or takes off since this is done by some algorithm in the cloud over which they have no control. Due to their self-induced climate change, this cloud opens up and negatively affects hardworking business owners. If you receive any false reviews that negatively affect your image, and you have a paid account, cancel it. Eventually, the review should get buried in theory and replaced by other subscriber reviews. However, just when I thought it couldn't get worse, it did!

YELP resurrected one of my positive reviews that was previously taken off, which in turn resurrected my business presence toward the top of YELP's website for a search for my type of service. At first, I thought they were developing a sense of responsibility because the positive review raised my review average. But then, they took the review down again, recalculated my review average downward, listed the removed review as not recommended, and the damage was done once again. My business shows up more frequently with more negative stats.

It is important to note that most businesses, other than restaurants, do not receive a lot of reviews. Therefore, each review counts.

In conclusion, YELP has attempted to hide razor blades in my candy, and now I have lost my sweet tooth.

I recently signed up for Yelp for Business Owners (biz.yelp.com) after seeing a promotion for "Free $300 in ads" on February 6th. I was excited to try out the advertising platform using the credit, without having to spend my own money. The salesperson from Yelp assured me that my account would be cancelled before they charged my card, and that my card would only be used for authentication purposes. However, I was skeptical about this claim and worried that I would be charged at the end of the trial period.

To ensure that I wouldn't be charged, I monitored my account closely and noticed that there were very few clicks happening. I continued to monitor my account daily and watched the pay-per-click until it reached around $250. I didn't want to go over the credit limit, so I cancelled my account before it hit $300. I expected the cost of my adventure to be $0, but to my surprise, I received a credit card charge a month later for $120 from 'Biz. Yelp'.

I immediately contacted customer service and was told to request a refund. However, my first request went unanswered for a few weeks. When I called back, they told me that there was nothing on file regarding my refund request. I resubmitted my request, and finally received a response from their refunds team. Unfortunately, they denied my request and claimed that all of the clicks happened in-between the time I requested to cancel and when the account was actually cancelled. I found this hard to believe, as $170 worth of clicks apparently happened in just 1-2 business days.

I even mentioned that I didn't receive a single lead, which should be cause for a refund. However, their disregard for my poor experience led me to believe that this is something of a 'scam' that they catch new business owners with regularly. I did some research on Google and found that many others had a similar experience to mine.

Overall, I would not recommend Yelp for Business Owners to anyone. Their advertising platform is not transparent, and their customer service is unhelpful. I was disappointed with my experience and would advise others to be cautious when signing up for their services.

Yelp for Business Owners (biz.yelp.com) is a platform that claims to help businesses grow by providing a referral and rating service. However, my experience with Yelp has been far from satisfactory. I have received close to 50 phone calls from Yelp, trying to force me into a marketing agreement with them. These calls were a complete waste of my valuable work time, and I eventually stopped answering them.

To my surprise, Yelp's "screening" software suddenly kicked into high gear. They claim to have no control over how it adds or removes reviews, but suddenly, 31 out of 32 of my 5-star reviews were deleted and moved to a "not recommended" area, invisible to any search engines. These reviews were written by my clients, who took valuable time to write great referrals for me in order to help others find a great contractor.

Yelp's supposed "automated screening" software has blacklisted all new reviews that come in for my company. I have had a total of 30+ 5-star reviews for my company, and Yelp has bounced all of them, leaving only the very first one ever posted many years ago. Yelp is lying about their screening software. It doesn't screen out legitimate reviews; they just blow away great reviews regardless of your service quality, which they care nothing about whatsoever. They want you locked into a contract period, and if you don't pay, say goodbye to anyone's reviews who may be trying to help you promote how good of a job you may do.

Yelp is a lying, greedy, and scummy company that has cost me a ton of work. They don't give a damn about honest, hard-working company referrals. It's all about the money, of course! They hurt my business considerably by being lying scum and not giving a hoot about honest hard-working company referrals. They suck!

To add insult to injury, I am now getting people selling 5-star Yelp reviews guaranteed! What credibility could anyone think this bunch of BS could have regarding a real "Referral and Rating Service"? What a bunch of crapola! Get the word out - people now sell Yelp reviews!

Yelp for Business Owners (biz.yelp.com) is a great platform for businesses to showcase their services and products to potential customers. As a business owner, I have found Yelp to be a valuable tool in reaching out to new customers and building my brand. However, like any platform, there are some issues that need to be addressed.

One issue that I have noticed is the prevalence of fake reviews. It is frustrating to see competitors or disgruntled customers leave negative reviews that are not based on actual experiences. Yelp has implemented measures to combat this, but it is still a problem that needs to be addressed.

Another issue that I have encountered is the difficulty in responding to reviews. As a business owner, I want to be able to respond to both positive and negative reviews, but the process can be confusing and time-consuming. Yelp could improve this process by making it more user-friendly and streamlined.

Despite these issues, I still believe that Yelp is a valuable resource for businesses. It allows us to connect with customers and receive feedback on our services. I would recommend Yelp to any business owner looking to expand their reach and build their brand.

Overall, Yelp for Business Owners is a great platform that has helped me grow my business. While there are some issues that need to be addressed, I believe that Yelp is a valuable resource for any business looking to connect with customers and build their brand.

I was told the ad would be completely free for a week. The sales rep called me back in the one-week time we agreed on and left a message but, unfortunately, the message got deleted in error. I tried deleting my ad because they had put my ad on the US site when I live in Canada so there were no leads for me. I tried emailing the company 3 times to remove my ad with no response or success. I tried calling but was left on hold for 2 hours and I finally gave up.

The biggest thing is that I canceled my credit card once I noticed them try to put through a payment but it had gotten denied as I didn't have enough credit balance left on my card. I got a new credit card and they somehow got the new information, which is incredibly shady, and charged the new card for an even higher amount of $140.10.

Cassandra DelValle April 7, 3:41 pm. I told her repeatedly that we didn’t have money to spend on advertising. She continued with a promotion that I did not quite understand and said I would not be paying anything unless we had traffic to our Yelp page. Casandra did not explain the process clearly and told me that I would not be charged $15 a day unless I had leads.

She said she would call me back on Monday to continue our conversation. I never received a call from her.

After I reluctantly said yes. She said that we would call me back on Monday, April 10th to finish setting up my account. When I didn't her I emailed her on April 13th, and called a left her a voice message. Cassandra didn't respond to either.

Then I noticed the two charges listed below. On 4/17/23 I call Yelp and spoke to Andre H. Customer Success Manager | Yelp Inc. [protected] and requested a refund for the charges. He then sent me an email with a Payments Inquiry Form. I immediately filled it out and email the form back.

MAY 1 2023

Credit Card YELPINC*[protected] WWW.YELP.COM CA Date 05/01/[protected] Card 70 #8604 -$4.68

APR 15 2023

Credit Card YELPINC*[protected] WWW.YELP.COM CA Date 04/15/[protected] Card 70 #8604 -$159.33

After I reluctantly said yes. She said that we would call me back on Monday, April 10th to finish setting up my account. When I didn't her I emailed her on April 13th, and called a left her a voice message. Cassandra didn't respond to either. Then I noticed the two charges listed below. On 4/17/23 I call Yelp and spoke to Andre H. Customer Success Manager | Yelp Inc. [protected] and requested a refund for the charges. He then sent me an email with a Payments Inquiry Form. I immediately filled it out and email the form back.

Kayla S. emailed me on 4/25/23 with the message "After further investigation on your account, we’ve determined a refund is not warranted at this time. We appreciate your patience in waiting for a decision."

I emailed back saying that I didn't agree with the decision. She replied "We understand that this may not be the outcome you were hoping for. We assess these inquires very carefully and look at a number of objective criteria to make a decision - which we don’t take lightly." "Given this is our final decision and no further escalation is available, I'll be closing out this email thread with you."

I would personally like to know how you assess these inquires and what objective criteria you used to make this decision. What did I pay for from April 15 when my account went live to April 17 when I cancelled. I want to know how many leads I had. I cannot afford this and I told her that from the very beginning.

It’s a rip off and sell.

On April 5th, I received a call from Milisa at Yelp. Despite the call coming from an unknown number, I answered, thinking it could be a customer. However, Milisa immediately launched into their sales pitch without checking if I had time to talk. I repeatedly informed them that I wasn't the decision-maker when it came to purchasing, but they were persistent in trying to reach my supervisor. I explained that ads were not a priority for us at the moment, but that we may consider them in the future. Despite this, Milisa continued to ask numerous questions that I didn't feel comfortable answering as I didn't want the call in the first place. They even questioned my resistance, suggesting that as the person responsible for marketing, I should be making the decision to advertise with Yelp.

I received an alert from Yelp about a review on my business. As I read the review, I noticed the review was completely FALSE. I don't know this person nor have I ever had a client by the name of Megan M. I contacted Yelp a few times to let them know this is FRAUD. and to provide proof. I was instructed to submit a dispute on the review in which I did. On 3/29,23, I received an email from Yelp stating "they decided to keep the review". I've contacted several agencies to let them know that Yelp allows ANYONE to submit FALSE review (s) on a business and yet they DON'T require the person to submit proof! (as I requested). I wanted to see a signed contract on my company letterhead along with my signature, date of service, etc, which I require. I've never received anything. Yet, Yelp is choosing to defame my character and my business as a successful Christian Counselor & Life Coach.

I don't know the motive (s) of this Megan M.

Furthermore, I haven't lived in Georgia for a year! All of my services are online if you look at my profile on Facebook under my name & business, and on Linkedln.

I opened a Yelp Biz on or about 12/2022 and contacted Yelp Biz telephonically on 1/18/2023 to close the account, because I was NOT satisfied with the service. Brandon from Yelp Biz apparently failed to close my account upon my call.

I received two e-mails from Yelp on 2/01/2023 and 3/01/2023 asking me to update my credit card to charge me for the service that I cancelled over the phone. I was baffled about these e-mails and contacted Yelp Biz again on 3/03/2023 and then again on 3/09/2023 to resolve these unauthorized charges.

The Yelp Biz agent proceeded to tell me that Brandon walked me through the system to cancel my account, which is a lie. Brandon did not walk me through at all. She also said that on my second call, that Emily walked me through, which is another lie, because she never did.

Yelp Biz are adamant that I pay them $600.00 because my account was not cancelled as I requested. I refuse to pay for services that I did not receive, and that I thought I cancelled upon my initial call on 1/18/2023.

There has been NO resolution despites the calls I have made to Yelp Biz and I feel they are scammers and do not care about their customers.

I also mentioned to the Yelp Biz representative that "I will write a complaint and dispute the initial charges with my credit card."

On 3/09/2023, after a lengthy wait on the phone expecting a resolution, there was no resolution but mere lies.

I have evidence of my phone records of the calls I made to Yelp Biz.

Although I initially entered, then corrected Yelp's mistake of my specific geographic location, Yelp continues to believe that I am located in two different cities, the one in Chicago and the other in Cleveland.

My specific location is:
Leavittsburg, Ohio 44430
Can you please correct this mistake?
Than You
Sincerely
Christopher Morris
Conclusion
Stop sending these repeat emails. I stated the issue which is directed specifically, pertaining to the unresolved changes from Yelp.
If you would rather not make these changes please inform me so that I can close the account!